Nearly 530 high school students had one-on-one mock job interviews at the 2017 NW Youth Careers Expo, thanks to a small army of caring volunteers.

An additional 178 students attended Career Talks on subjects such as landing a summer job, acing your first job interview or finding paths to high-paying jobs.

In our annual post-Expo survey, educators cited mock interviews as one of the most beneficial parts of the Expo. Fully 100 percent of educators whose students participated in mock interviews rated the experience as “excellent” or “good,” with the majority choosing “excellent.”

Here are a few of educators’ comments from this year’s Expo:

“The interviews are so beneficial, but I also enjoyed going to the workshops. Thanks for adding those.”

“Career talks were great.”

“Mock interviews were really good for students beginning the process of applying for jobs.”

“The mock interviews (were the main benefit of the Expo).”

“We also received feedback from students about the experience of the mock interviews. They were unsure at first but then some went back for another interview.”

“The students had so much fun this year. I felt like this was the most productive Expo, with high student engagement.”

The Portland Workforce Alliance works closely with the Portland HR Management Association (PHRMA), an Expo silver sponsor and longtime partner. Together, the organizations recruit, organize and train volunteers for the mock interviews and career talks. This year, 133 volunteers participated in these two activities: THANK YOU, VOLUNTEERS!

Representatives from Worksystems provided two of the career talks, giving students a wealth of information about next steps in sectors such as health care, technology and manufacturing. (Worksystems/WorkSource is an Expo gold sponsor with a complementary mission.)

Special thanks go to Lori Boullet, Janet Rodriguez, Jennifer Gwin and Mary Lou Keeran for their leadership on this year’s mock interviews and career talks. Boullet is a PWA board member and Rodriguez is a committee member. PWA board president, Natalie Miller, is active in PHRMA and also helped support this great work.